Confessions of a Castleholic

Florence is perhaps one of the handful of places every person should visit during their lifetime. Dubbed the "Cradle of the Renaissance", it is often considered to be the place where the transformation from the Middle Ages to modern Western civilization started. Between all the museums, the ginormous amounts of art and the plentiful of churches to see, palaces may not be among the top spots on your list of places to see in the city. However... When you think of Florence, you automatically also think of the Medici and unfathomable wealth. They were the bankers, rulers and art patrons behind much of what makes Florence so unique until this day. Because it was them who commissioned artists such as da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli and Donatello to work for them to forever inscribe their family's name into the history books. Palazzo Medici-Riccardi The Palazzo Medici-Riccardi is actually the place where it all started. It was the home of the Medici family between the second...

Usually here at Confessions of a Castleholic , we are all about castle hunting. But in today's post, let's do some castle hiking! And where better to do it than in the most beautiful of Tyrols, South Tyrol? (No offense to Tyrol north of the Brenner Pass but you can hardly top scenic alpine mountains paired with palm trees.) Famous for its mild and sunny climate, South Tyrol - and especially Merano - has been a favourite destination for the bright, beautiful and wealthy for a long time. No other than Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi, was one of the first to holiday south of the Alps in what today is a German-speaking autonomous province in Northern Italy.  Thankfully, these days mere mortals are also able to travel to and holiday in beautiful South Tyrol. An abundance of hiking trails awaits you, but for any Castleholic combining a day in nature with discovering new historic sights seems the wait to go - and so I did. Passing the Passer via the Ponte Romano a...

Palazzo Reale di Torino The obvious place to start any castle hunting adventure in Turin is of course the Palazzo Reale (or Royal Palace if your Italian is even more limited than mine). Located in the north of the country, Turin isn't only the capital city of the Piedmont but also once served as the first capital of a united Italy between 1861 and 1865 thanks to the Dukes of Savoy, who come from the region and united the country. Many of the palaces mentioned in today's post are actually UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the "Residences of the Royal House of Savoy". The Palazzo Reale , located in the heart of Turin, is by far the biggest of them all. Originally built in the 16th century, it was later modernised in he 17th and 18th centuries according to designs by architects such as Daniel Seiter, Filippo Juvarra and Claudio Francesco Beaumont. In addition to the royal apartments and state rooms, the Palazzo Reale also includes the royal armory, art galleries an...

Renaissance Italy is an utterly fascinating era - and so the start of turn from the Middle Ages to modern history always makes for interesting TV. One name that is intertwined with the tide of times like few others is that of the Medicis. The Italian banking family, political dynasty and later royal house began their rise to greater prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. It is also Cosimo who plays the central role in the television drama series "Medici: Masters of Florence", which begins with the violent death of Cosimo's father. What follows is a as much a political and family drama as a murder mystery. While I felt that the show was a bit slow to set up the scene as a whole, I was still hooked pretty quickly. The show tells the story of the rise of the family and that "sometimes you have to do bad to do good", as Giovanni de' Medici says at one point. While he dies after only a...

Well, on two continents... Let's play favourites again - this time with cities. Here are the five I like best for various reasons which I'll try to explain a little. Obviously, I can only speak of those cities I have visited yet. So if any are missing that you think everyone should see, leave me a comment below. My bucket list may already be more than 100 places long but can it ever be long enough? Sydney, Australia Where shall I begin? While some places were hard to pick, Sydney was a very obvious choice for me. After all this is the city where I spent what I still consider the time of my life. After school I lived and travelled in Australia for a year with Sydney being my base. But it wasn't just that it was the best and most carefree time of my life: Over the year, I simply fell in love with the city, its style, art and culture and how beautifully it is situated.   Hamburg, Germany If you are a long-time reader of Confessions of a Castleholic, you will al...